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Big-thinking Ursuline beats rival Mooney
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
After losing in the regional semifinals to Smithville last March, Ursuline assistant girls basketball coach Arnold Davidson took several Irish players with him to Columbus to watch a few state tournament games.
“When we went down there and saw how the games were and all the people, that got us really excited,” said junior Courtney Powell, who scored 22 points with eight rebounds in a 52-38 win over Cardinal Mooney on Saturday. “That’s what we’re working toward this year.
“We want to experience the ride in style. Taking the bus down and just the excitement with the crowd and everything.”
Ursuline, which won the Division III title in 2004 (with Davidson’s daughter, Courtney), hasn’t been to Columbus since 2006. That was five seasons and several pounds ago for coach Sean Durkin. (“Some LBs,” he said, laughing. “First of the year, I’m shedding.)
But with Smithville’s best player, Jenna Pew, now playing volleyball at Wheeling Jesuit and South Euclid Regina no longer in existence, the Irish are again in the state tournament conversation.
“We’ve got a puncher’s chance,” Durkin said. “Last year was the first taste these girls got and when they went down there [to Columbus], they realized that was the next step.
“We have lofty expectations, but we have a long way to go.”
They took a step forward Saturday, beating their arch-rivals despite missing two starters (junior Aurielle Irizarry and senior Ja’Niece Whitehead) with ankle injuries. It was their first game without Irizarry, who is expected back in about two weeks, and Powell’s first without her since sixth grade.
Undaunted, the Irish promptly took a 10-0 lead before the Cardinals even attempted a shot.
“We kind of had our nerves going and they [Irizarry and Whitehead] kind of pumped us up in the locker room and put it all in our heads that we were gonna do what we can do without them,” said Powell, who played in middle school with Irizarry at St. Joseph The Provider in Campbell. “We can’t wait until we get them back so we can all be a team together.”
Junior Briana Curd added 14 points for the Irish (3-2), who led by double digits for most of the game.
Elena Andino-Esparra scored 11 for Mooney (3-4) in her first game back from an ankle injury, helping the Cardinals cut their deficit to eight with about three minutes left. They scored two points the rest of the way.
“We didn’t want to seize the moment,” said Cardinals coach Bill Ritter. “We’re still looking for some leadership.”
Senior Chyna Davis had nine points and six rebounds for Mooney, but with junior Taylor Woytek still out with a broken tibula and fibula — she’s expected back next week — Davis has to shoulder a bigger load, Ritter said.
“She’s probably trying to do too much right now,” he said. “They know she’s our best player right now and most teams are trying to do something to stop her. She was getting frustrated also.
“We’re still doing a lot of bad things, basically. This is two games in a row where, at the beginning, we just froze.”